


Standing Idly By

by hrhrionastar



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 14:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrhrionastar/pseuds/hrhrionastar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina's not one to let things (or people) be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Standing Idly By

Regina has never been very forgiving. People say forgiveness heals the heart, but there are some wrongs that cannot be washed away by either blood or tears.  
  
Once Regina wanted the Huntsman to kill Snow White, but she realizes now that Snow White's death would never have been enough. She wants Snow's suffering, Mary Margaret's suffering (and she is smaller here in Storybrooke, lesser somehow, even if everyone still loves their princess-in-disguise far too well) and she won't rely on a higher power for that.  
  
This world, with its electrical heating and its fast cars and its polluted air, still believes in magic. Worlds beyond this one. Regina doesn't mind the thought of endless torment for Snow, but she's not going to stand idly by and turn the other cheek while her perfect stepdaughter gets the happy ending she herself never will, on the off chance that God will punish Snow White.  
  
If Regina were Christian, she would definitely prefer the Old Testament.  
  
Regina's first memory is from when she was three years old and her mother sent a rope of magic to bind her to the wall and keep her there for an hour. Finally Cora said, "now are you going to mind your table manners?" and only when Regina nodded, too frightened even to cry anymore, did her mother let her go.  
  
There are a lot of memories like that. And in almost all of them, Regina's father stands somewhere nearby, very much the background to Cora's foreground, looking miserable and helpless.  
  
Regina knows that her father loved her. But he never said anything to Cora. Never protested. Never fought for Regina.  
  
Regina has no co-parent to struggle with, of course, but there is no one she wouldn't face down for the sake of her son. None of them could stand against her, not Archie, not Mr. Gold, not any of Henry's teachers including Mary Margaret Blanchard.  
  
And then one day there is Emma Swan. One day—the first day. The first day the clock begins to move, the first day Storybrooke stirs, already more a town of this world than a disguised Enchanted Forest. The first day Regina is afraid.  
  
Emma Swan steals Henry's heart and it isn't Regina's anymore. (If it ever was. Sometimes she doubts her power.)  
  
Regina never understood how her father could stand by and do nothing while Cora destroyed her life. While Regina destroyed his.  
  
Now she is the helpless one.


End file.
